AI War 5.0 and Light of the Spire Expansion Now Available on Steam

Posted by Erik Johnson on February 14th, 2011

The Light of the Spire Expansion

Arcen Games is proud to announce AI War: Light of the Spire, the game’s biggest expansion ever, is out now for PC and Mac on Steam. To celebrate, the base game will go for 50% off and the new add-on 10% off on Valve’s digital distribution platform until February 21 at 10 AM PST: http://store.steampowered.com/app/40400/

The expansion is packed full of new additions. The “Fallen Spire” campaign brings in-game linear story elements to the title for the first time, and culminates in a whole new way to win. Players with minutes instead of hours should take to the new Defender Mode, offering bite-sized timed games against crazy AI aggression.

Light of the Spire also brings 180 new ships, including the powerful “Spirecraft” vessel class which stands as the second largest unit class in the game. New music from composer Pablo Vega, new AI types, map types, bonus ship classes, minor factions and quite a bit more packs the expansion to the brim. Prepare for a new war!

Arriving alongside the LotS expansion is AI War 5.0, a massive update free to owners of the base game on Steam. Version 5.0 refines the title by taking the best of all past versions and blending them into the definitive AI War experience. While the game will continue to grow and evolve, 5.0 now serves as the foundation for the future.

With this update, nearly every combat ship in the game has been rebalanced in an effort to integrate all the new units added over the past year. Golems have been completely revamped and the AI have received major intelligence upgrades such as more proactive retreats, a network of core shield generators, and the new “stalking” mechanic where it lies in wait until the player is at their most vulnerable.

Players should also be pleased with significant adjustments to overall difficulty and the shortening of the early part of the game — allowing you to “get to the good part” faster. Not to mention tons of performance improvements, as well as more of a general accessibility regardless of what level of player you are.

Arcen Games entered the PC indie scene in 2009 with their cult classic AI War: Fleet Command, which was named the 40th best-reviewed PC game of the year by MetaCritic. Their second year was a busy one, seeing the release of The Zenith Remnant, the first full expansion for AI War; Tidalis, an innovative block-based puzzle with casual appeal and hardcore depth; and Children of Neinzul, a micro-expansion for AI War with all profits benefiting the Child’s Play charity, of which Arcen is a platinum sponsor.

AI War’s third and largest expansion Light of the Spire marked Arcen’s first release of 2011, and now the company has shifted its focus and excitement to the development of A Valley Without Wind. Originally a one-man shop, Arcen Games has grown to have half a dozen part-time or fulltime contributors to its various titles.

About Arcen (Ar-ken) Games

Originally known for our unusual and highly effective approach to RTS artificial intelligence in our debut title AI War: Fleet Command, we have since branched out into many other genres and styles of games.

As you can tell by browsing our catalog of titles, our interests are eclectic, and we have a particular affinity for blurring the lines between unlikely genres.